Improved railway-track cleaner



J. A. MATTHEWS.

Car-Track Clearer.

Pafiented Man 20, 1866.

UNrrE TATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES A. MATTHEWS, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

IMPROVED RAILWAY-TRACK CLEANER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 53,317, dated March 20, 1866.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JAMES ALoNzo MAT- THEWs, of St. Louis, in the county of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Improved 'lrack-Olearer for Railroad-(Jars; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable those skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure l is a side view of my invention; Fig. 2, a front view of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate correspouding parts.

This invention relates to anew and improved device to be applied to railroad-cars for the purpose of scraping from the rails, dirt, snow, &c., and keeping the same in a clean state.

The invention consists in applying a scraper to a spring and arranging a stirrup and setscrew with the same, as hereinafter set forth, whereby the scraper may be adjusted higher or lower as occasion may require, th e scraper working over the rail and the spring to which the scraper is attached being secured to the axleboX, whereby. the cleaning is performed in a thorough manner.

A represents a spring, the rear end of which is attached by a clip, B, to the axle-box at the outer side of the ear-wheel. This spring A is bent so as to form a right-angular jog and admit of its front part extending around in front of the car-wheel. The front part of this spring is bent downward in semicircular form, as shown at a in Fig. l, and to the lower end of the semicircular part a of the spring the scraper G is attached by a joint, I).

The upper part of the scraper O is slotted vertically, as shown at c, to admit of a bar, D,

being fitted therein, the inner part of said bar being notched to fit around the pintle of the joint I), and the front end of the said bar being notched to receive the lower end of a stirrup, E, which is fitted on the semicircular part a of the spring, and has a set-screw, F, passing through its upper end and the spring A. By adjusting or turning this set-screw F the scraper may be adjusted higher or lower, as may be desired. The barD retains the scraper in position, the loweredge of the slot 0 bearin g against the bar, and the latter also serving as a bearing for the lower end of the stirrup.

The spring A admits of the scraper rising and falling to conform to any inequalities of the rails, and the device is attached to each side of the car, the springs A being bent laterally so as to fit both sides of the car; the springs A at the left side of the car being bent toward the right to extend around the left wheels and those at the right side being toward the left to extend around the right wheels.

The device is extremely simple in construction, may be manufactured at a small cost, and will prove very efficient in clearing the rails of obstructions.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The spring A, bent or curved, and applied to the car, substantially as shown, in combination with the scraper O, stirrup E, set-screw F, and bar D, and all arranged substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

JAMES A. MATTHEWS, 

